I'm a skeptic but I still find the article really interesting (currently on page 10 of 43) and a highly entertaining read. Mind you, the paper does not argue that the cryptoterrestial hypothesis is true or even that it's likely. The argument is that it should be considered instead of being outright dismissed like you just did. So far they make a pretty good case IMO.
Also worth noting, higher levels of education tend to correlate with lower belief in conspiracy theories. I've encountered a large number of self-proclaimed autodidacts here on HN, so that could help explain it, too.
Unfortunately, Hacker News has been degenerating into crankery and conspiracy theory for a while now. It's an irreversible intellectual rot but least it makes things entertaining.
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why is hacker news getting so much of this pseudo-science trash lately?
I'm assuming this is not AI submitted, but it is garbage.
I'm not even sure it's legitimate enough to qualify as pseudo-science. Maybe junk-science?
I'm a skeptic but I still find the article really interesting (currently on page 10 of 43) and a highly entertaining read. Mind you, the paper does not argue that the cryptoterrestial hypothesis is true or even that it's likely. The argument is that it should be considered instead of being outright dismissed like you just did. So far they make a pretty good case IMO.
I love this kind of stuff on HN. Maybe you could science a reason for its existence.
There are a variety of motivations to believe in nonsense.
https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/09637214177182...
Also worth noting, higher levels of education tend to correlate with lower belief in conspiracy theories. I've encountered a large number of self-proclaimed autodidacts here on HN, so that could help explain it, too.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5248629/
Unfortunately, Hacker News has been degenerating into crankery and conspiracy theory for a while now. It's an irreversible intellectual rot but least it makes things entertaining.